Witches of Gamindustri: Dawn of Witches
by Dilnos521
Summary: Five Witches, the children of renowned heroes, transported into a world unfamiliar to them. A world based on technology none have ever witnessed before. These are a quick glimpse of four of them. Takes place during the events of Re;Birth1. Rated T for now.
1. The Shy Sniper

**Hello, and welcome...to the prologue of Project HD RPG. Also, merry Christmas/happy holidays (covering all my bases with this one. If you don't celebrate this time of year, I do sincerely apologize).**

 **Anyways, in case you ask, read any of my previous stories, and/or voted on my poll: no, this doesn't mean that the next story from the poll (which I forgot to close until Monday, but the results were still the same as far as what won was concerned) is going to happen immediately. I am still going to be working on the other projects I have going on right now, namely Project Himebana (need two more chapters) and Project Global (if any readers of that story are reading this, I am working on it as quickly as I can while celebrating the holidays right now). Once Himebana concludes, the main event for the project and the latter project from above will be my main concerns.**

 **The above was mainly for those who read my work from before. Regardless, this is a sort of gift for the readers. A weird sort of gift, but one nonetheless.**

 **If you're new to the story idea, let me welcome you to it. Given the nature of the crossover, there's not much I can say about it except...**

 **...well, it works somehow. Can't go into the specifics, but it works.**

 **Anyways, enough about my ramblings, I need to explain the premise of this story: this is basically going to be a collection of entries featuring four of five characters going into the main story. This is essentially going to work out like the RWBY trailers back then, showing each character based on their current situation in their chapter as well as establishing some materials canon to the main story.**

 **So without further ado, let's get started, and please feel free to let me know if this makes any sense.**

 **[Disclaimer: I do not own any characters featured in this story except the OCs I've made. All characters featured in this story and not one of my OCs belong to their respective owners.]**

 **XXXXXXXXXX**

 **Witch #1: The Shy Sniper (Planeptune)**

 _You must fight with honor. Integrity. And above all, be proud of being a Witch._

I never really thought about why Sakamoto-sensei said that to me back in one of my training classes with her. It made almost no sense to me; why say something like that?

"Hey," my companion, IF, said to me as we were perched on a branch, looking out at the forest we had been sent to defeat some monsters. "You okay, Hikari?"

"Hmm?" I asked her quickly as I turned to face her. She wore a black tank top and a pair of short shorts that seemed to be fused into one article of clothing. There was a belt around her waist that had a buckle with the letters I and F on it. Over her body was a oversized, dark blue jacket with black, silver, and white detailing. She didn't have it buttoned up or anything, and there was a belt around it that was loosely opened. It seemed to carry what she had referred to as "cell phones", each being in a little carrying device colored (and I had to check the colors with her to make sure) blue, light blue, green, black, magenta, white, lime green, orange, and light pink.

I don't really know why she had so many of these "phones"...

The last thing I should probably note for her clothes was that she wore boots that seemed to match her outfit.

As for her physical features, she seemed to have emerald eyes and light brown hair down to her waist. I could see that most of her bangs were long and reached down to her eyes, either curling outward or inward towards her face.. There seemed to be a split in the upper left corner of her face. She also had some of her hair reaching down to her chest, some of them even being put into a ponytail that rested on the left side of her head. Holding that ponytail was a leafy green hair piece.

"I asked if you were okay," IF told me. "You looked a little worried there."

"I'm fine," I told her slowly. I wasn't entirely comfortable around strangers, and even though I've known IF for a while now it wasn't enough to make me relax a lot.

"You sure?" IF leaned in a bit and took a good look at me. "You're not...thinking of someone, are you?"

"Not really...?" I looked down at my clothes. I wore what seemed to be a sailor's shirt that was a little big on me along with white loafers, the shirt having blue cuffs, blue detailing, and a blue collar. Like one of my parents, I wore a pair of white socks up to my mid-thighs, though I wore a black one-piece swimsuit underneath my shirt. Slung on my back was a sniper rifle IF had found from one of her excursions. The only reason she gave for handing me it was because she had no use for it because of her current weapon set. To be fair, I did admitted (rather hesitantly) that I knew how to operate one.

The rifle itself was a little weird. It had a sort of magazine for it that seemed to be able to carry up to five rounds. According to IF, it was a model they called "Sniping Peashooter", and the name wasn't far off: it looked like someone had developed it based on what a particular plant looked like. The stock was a rather wooden one that had been etched into to make shapes that resembled roots, the barrel looked a bit like it was a stem, and the muzzle of the rifle was made to look like a pink flower. The magazine itself looked like it was shaped like a blocky leaf.

The strap that was attached to it looked like it was a vine, so there was more to make me believe that it looked odd.

IF sighed as she said, "Look, I know it's not my business to pry, but try not to let it get in the way of the job, alright?"

"Job?" I asked her.

IF grabbed the phone out of her light blue carrier and took a quick look at its screen. "We're going to be hunting some X-Boxers, so be on your best guard."

"Okay." I watched as IF slipped off the branch and landed on her feet gently. I followed suit and felt my uniform flutter through the air before I landed on my feet as well, a little less gracefully than my current partner. We then started walking through the forest. "So what do they...look like?"

"You'll know it when you see it. I am curious, though: when I met you, you had some sort of animal ears on top of your head and a tail. Care to explain?"

"Hmm? Oh...my familiar?"

"Is that what you call it? Usually, when I think of a familiar, 'animal features on the master's body' isn't my first choice of understanding it."

"It's rather...hard to explain to a person outside of our culture, but...in a nutshell, they're animals we form connections with. With our familiars...we're able to use our magic to the best of our abilities."

"Ah. A bit like a goddess around here, right?"

"Goddess?"

"Right." IF sighed. "Look, around here there are four goddesses, one for each landmass. Their job is to protect their landmass and preside over them. That's a quick summary of it, but there's a lot more than that. For instance, there's the Shares system, the battles they've been in..." IF then spotted something up ahead. "Look, there's one of them. We'll go in quietly and take it out. We're lucky, we'll get a Symbol Attack and maybe get an X-Boxer Soul as a battle reward."

"Reward?"

"Yeah. Think of it as like a trophy. We'll also get some credits out of the battle as well."

"Oh. That seems understandable, but...how do you get a...Symbol Attack?"

"That's simple. Just strike the enemy before they engage you."

"Okay..." I looked ahead and saw that there was a weird-looking skeleton in our path, wearing a pair of red boxing gloves over its hands.

That must be an X-Boxer, then...

Cautiously, I inched my way towards it as I slipped the sniper rifle off of my back. It didn't seem like it was going to engage me yet (or really think I was a threat), so I think I was in the clear.

I beared the rifle against it and watched as it noticed my presence and looked to get ready to attack.

I only had one shot to pull it off.

I pulled the trigger and was met with a resounding ding as the Boxer was blasted a bit back.

[ **SYMBOL ATTACK!** ]

Those words popped up across my vision, and I shook them away quickly as I watched a few new icons appear in my sight. I had a little section for the Boxer's health and a blue bar I had no idea about in the upper left corner while the upper right corner seemed to keep track of turn orders. Along the bottom were mine and IF's health and SP bars (she had explained rather briefly that they were for skills). Down in the lower left corner were some names that I couldn't quite understand what they were referring to, but I chose not to worry about them right now.

The X-Boxer turned and looked at me before IF came in from above and struck at it a few times.

"I'll hold its attention," she told me. "You work on picking it off from a distance."

"Right..." I replied as I aimed carefully and took a deep breath.

I have a few more shots, but I need to line them up just right. If I don't, then IF's life is in danger...

I watched as the X-Boxer swung a left hook at my partner, but she dodged it gracefully as she slashed at it while going around its back. I took the chance to shoot it in its head. It stumbled back a fair bit but was still alive.

IF took the moment to strike at it some more and used some sort of fire magic she referred to as "Demon Flames" to strike it some more, making it go into the air. I looked at it and shot a few more rounds at it, missing with one but hitting it in the ribs somewhere with the second one. This kept it in the air a bit longer before it came back to the ground hard. As it struggled to get back on its feet, I couldn't help but feel sorry for hitting it like that. I know that if this was a normal world that I'd be dead from the headshot alone.

"Good work, Hikari," IF praised me. "I think that gun's rather good for the moment. Well, for a level one newcomer, I mean."

"Thanks..." I said slowly. I then looked at the X-Boxer once it managed to get back on its feet. "Um, IF...?"

"I think I have an idea. I'll get it airborne again, you shoot at it with your best shot."

"Okay..."

IF ran up to it and performed a few more slashes at it before backing up and using her spell again to send it up into the air. I stomped my left foot into the ground ahead of me as I aimed at the enemy.

One more shot...make it count...

" **Precision Shot!** " I called out as I started glowing white and felt my familiar appear on my body. They were the ears and tail of a shiba inu.

Firing the gun, I felt little recoil as a white burst of light zomed out from the barrel and went straight through the X-Boxer. Soon, I watched as the enemy disappear in a flash of light while dropping some things on the ground. Sheathing her weapons under her sleeves, IF calmly walked over to the things and picked them up.

"Impressive, so that's what it does..." she said.

I slipped the gun onto my back and placed my right fist on my chest, giving off a cute smile as I replied with, "It's nothing, though..."

"Nothing? You fought rather...well, for around here, you fought well. Now..." IF reached for her blue carrier and pulled out the phone in there. "Since we're a party at the moment, we'll have to manage our resources together."

"So how much more?" I was curious: she never said how much we needed...did she?

"Well, we need to defeat enough to get two Boxer Souls. We already have one along with some credits for the fight, so...that could range from another battle to about...twenty?"

For someone who I barely met for a while now, she sure knows what she's doing. "So that's it?"

"Well, basically. I'm sure I found another not too far from here. We'll head over and get that one too. It'll take a little while for them to respawn."

"...Respawn?"

"They come back after a while." IF then raised an eyebrow. "Don't tell me you don't know what that mean?"

"Slightly? I mean, usually...when we kill something it...stays dead. Except for the Neuroi sometimes. I remember my parents telling me tales of Neuroi they fought...where the armor regenerated."

IF closed her eyes as if in thought. "Hmm...the Neuroi sound a lot like what we deal with."

"Oh, they can get big. Like...about a third of this landmass or...over half the size of this forest. It's closer to the forest part usually..."

"That big, huh?"

XXXXXXXXXX

About three battles later, and we got enough Boxer Souls to go turn in the quest back in the city and receive our reward, which seemed to go into IF's account.

"Rather good so far," she told me as she was busy flicking through the screens at the Guild for any new requests. "Dogoo hunting earlier, Boxers just recently...what else is there to do?"

"We could celebrate," I told her. "I mean, it's not too much, but..."

"Hmm?" IF sounded surprised.

"...What is it, IF?"

"There seems to be a few new quests on the Guild's Quest Board. Seems like it's in a new location I haven't been to. Let's see...Pixelvaders...Clydes...Miss Clydes...where exactly did this place come from?" IF manipulated the screens to see what reports concerning it said, giving off an air of confusion. "How can it just appear out of nowhere? There had to be a reason for it..."

"So what now?" I asked.

"Well, it's a new quest, and it seems like people want it to be checked out. I say we go in and take a look ourselves tomorrow. We'll have to get there bright and early."

"So what do you want to do until then?"

"Well, we should get some food. We still need to eat and regain our energy from fighting."

"Ah. Erm...do you mind telling me more about this world?"

"Sure. Nothing better to do, anyways."

"Thanks..."

"No problem."

XXXXXXXXXX

The next morning, IF and I were at the mouth of the cave that had been found, staring down into its depths.

"I hope we have more than enough supplies for the trip," IF said to herself.

"Why?" I asked. She had told me about the prospect of a "GAME OVER" yesterday, but I was still rather curious about the repercussions of it.

"You're not exactly a tank, I'm more of a damage-dealer, and we don't really have any healing abilities beyond items."

"Erm..." I was about to say something but realized that I had a problem: while I had inherited my parents' magic abilities, I had tried using my healing magic to fix a small cut a while back. However, I couldn't do that for some reason. The only skill I could do according to IF was a skill called "Precision Shot" (she had access to my skills and other things via her phone, so she could take a look herself), and that was some time before that fight with the first X-Boxer.

"Anyways," IF started walking into the cave, "we've got a lot of things to do down here, so let's make this quick."

"Right..." I followed her carefully, my rifle patting my back gently.

 ** _The shy sniper, born of two women via magic. Despite her timid nature, she has a heart of gold and cares deeply about her friends, even opening up to them after a while. She is only one of five people whose interfering presence in Gamindustri will shape the future of what's to come._**

 **XXXXXXXXXX**

 **And there's the first of the characters. This is not representative of the whole story, but this purpose is to give you an idea of the possibilities.**

 **Neptune:** Also, the teases.

 **...**

 **Neptune:** What? Never had a character inside one of your author notes before?

 **...Yeah, I have, but...you're not Lio...**

 **Neptune:** Oh, Lio, huh? He must be that voice I knocked unconscious on the way here.

 **Huh...he's able to be hit...that's very-wait, why are you here?**

 **Neptune:** Well, I've been wandering around here for a while now and figured I can see what my future teammates are going to be like. Besides, having a cute girl help you out is preferable to a Neuroi core, right?

 **...At least Lionelis is a custom Neuroi core for the series he's from. Besides, how'd you hit him anyways?**

 **Neptune:** I have my ways... ;)

 **...Which incarnation are you? Because last I checked the you from the very first game had a huge hammer for knocking walls down and such in dungeons, and...**

 **Neptune:** That's a Neptune secret.

 **...Okay...anyways, while I deal with trying to figure things out over here, like where Histoire is at the moment, if anyone else is going to make an appearance here, and so on, please read and respond and let me know what you thought of the first "trailer" as well as giving me feedback on how I handled each character along the way (I am looking things up and reading other stories on the site for ideas of their personalities considering the multiple dimensional interpretations...or something along those lines). Also, if you're interested in reading my current series feel free to do so.**

 **Neptune:** Next time, it's the introduction of the "Lightning Noble".

 **Hey, that's my job!**

 ***clears throat* Thanks, and I'll see you in the next entry. Have a safe holiday season.**


	2. The Lightning Noble

**Hello, and welcome to another entry in this...prologue...story...**

 **...Actually, I have next to no idea what to actually call it. Something like "Trailer Collection" or "Character Intros" or something?**

 _ **Ow, our head...**_

 **Oh, Lio, you're awake.**

 _ **How long were we out?**_

 **About a week.**

 _ **Oh...so wait does that mean we...?**_

 **Missed Christmas over here, just in time for New Year's Eve.**

 _ **Ah. Man, that little what's-her-name really did a number on us...**_

 **Anyways, I've got to get this underway, so for now just rest up.**

 **Alright, on to the reviews first:**

 _Karl the Artillery Piece_ **: Thanks for the review, and...for some reason I can see Neptune saying something like that. Might be because I just recently read a story that had something similar said, but maybe it's just my imagination.**

 _Ekuro278_ **: The finer details will be explored at a later day, but for a basic possibility, I refer you to an anime called** _Vandread_ **for an idea concerning that. Also, I am now accepting fire extinguishers as donations ( _God only knows we need more since that fire during the particular chapter..._ ). In case you ask, it's not the strangest thing I have received via reviews, but...having an Internet still attached to you from an earlier story is currently at the top of that list due to nothing else that seems strange. Anyways, thanks for the review.**

 _kineke13_ **: The shenanigans I've got planned for these notes are a secret, but rest assured: I've checked around here and Neptune is not here currently. Though I can't guarantee that no one else apart from Lionelis will make a surprise appearance or that this sort of trend will continue into the main story. Though I've got Lio; what's Neptune or anyone else coming in if not more unpredictable? Apart from that, thanks for the review.**

 _Guest (Guest)_ **: I think Deadpool's got more power given he appears to be too unpredictable for even himself. Though he doesn't really comment on being the main character as much, if memory serves me right...and he's more adult in his content based on the movie trailers I've seen. Anyways, thanks for the review.**

 **And those are the reviews so far.**

 **Anyways, today we're going to be showing another character...**

 **XXXXXXXXXX**

 **Witch #2: The Noble Lightning Fencer (Lastation)**

 _A proper noble does not let his or her anger control what they do._

I can't say that I completely agree with what my mother said about anger, but it's definitely a good start on figuring out how to go about this whole thing.

Course, being surrounded by some wolves in the middle of a forest is not what I'd call my best moment.

I wonder...if I could actually cut one open, would it still bleed red?

I don't really know, but I can safely say that these things don't simply stay where they fell: it's like they're accustomed to disappearing in a weird burst of light. I don't even see a body anywhere.

I pat the family heirloom, which was sitting on the left side of my hips, comfortably. I was at least able to protect myself, and because I didn't want to be sitting around and doing nothing I figured: why not get some training?

Readying the rapier and watching the light bounce off its steely surface, I studied my opponents. They seemed to be rather strange beings, like they were wolves (as I've said before). Some kind of purple-tinged wolves.

Oh well, can't complain.

I watched as a wolf charged at me and bit my left leg, eliciting a sharp pain in my body as the strange display in my eyesight adjusted itself to reflect some loss in "HP".

"Okay, that smarts..." I only groaned as I swung my rapier at it and knocked it away. I then checked my leg. I had been getting used to taking some damage (I've been dealing with this sort of thing on and off for a few days now, using the nearby city of...I think they called it Lastation. Anyways, I was using that as a resting point between fighting these things), but I was still unnerved by the lack of blood from the bite. I did see a hole in my pant leg where the bite occurred. "All I asked for was a chance to get some more experience with these things, and I get to deal with teeth. Why couldn't it be Neuroi?" I readied my rapier and glared at the three wolves (I had counted them just now since I was in a state of pause), contemplating my next move.

Suddenly, I watched as some person came into view and struck one of the wolves away from me, making it disappear in a flash. The other two wolves looked at the newcomer as she (I saw that it was a girl) stood up again, having landed in a crouch. Her choice of clothes were...a sort of fancy dress with the color scheme of dark blue, white, red, and some small amounts of gold for the lining and buttons. Her upper portion (once she turned to look at me) seemed to cover some sort of cloth that was red with some black lining cloth while the area around her breasts was white. Looking at her skirt, it had black lining on the two layers it had. Resting behind her wa sa blue bow, which seemed to match a smaller version that was around her neck via a black and white collar. The center of the bow on the front seemed to have a golden, round piece in the middle.

As far as physical features went, she had pale-colored skin that seemed to border on fair. Her hair was very long, reaching around her waist, and were colored black. It was put into long pigtails that had been held by a piece of black and blue ribbon each. Her bangs were rather neatly combed and framed her face, and those red eyes looking at me...

For some reason I had a distinct worry about it: I know that people with natural red eyes did exist out there (heck, an old teammate of my mother's had red eyes, and she had even said that a close comrade of hers had received a dark red left eye after a particular event), but there were only two other people I know of that could create a glowing representation of those red eyes, and both of them happened to be related to each other via father and daughter.

"Don't you know how dumb it is to be taking on these things by yourself?" the girl told me before sighing. "How's your health?"

"Rather...fine," I told her after processing what she meant by her question. "I've gotten some bite marks, but apart from that not much."

"Figures..." A wolf decided to engage her, but she nimbly dodged it as it tried biting her. She then swung her rapier a few times before she looked at me. "Well, what are you standing around for? Fight already!"

Nodding in agreement, I ran up to the wolf that had attacked her and gave it a quick slash, calling on my mother's training. I then swung my weapon three times in rapid succession, followed by two jabs into it.

[ **GUARD BREAK!** ]

The enemy disappeared after that was announced, and the girl and I looked at the last one, which was growling.

"Well," the girl told me. "I'll handle this one. You should use some Healing Grass and heal yourself."

...

"Healing Grass?" I asked dumbly.

"Of course!" the girl retorted. "Please tell me you have some on hand." I said nothing. "...Don't tell me, you don't have a clue about what Healing Grass is?"

"...No?" I said carefully with a slight blush on my face. Being a noble, having pride was a good thing...but when a girl who entered your battle unannounced was insinuating that you're an imbecile for not even knowing something that sounded rather basic to a normal person, you tend to find out that pride can only get you so far.

"So you have a healing spell?" This girl was really getting a bit...annoyed?

"...No?" I repeated. I know of a Witch who can heal. Heck, I can name two, related to each other. And that's just the tip of the iceberg.

The girl sighed, sounding irritated, before she ran up to the last one and performed something akin to her performing some sort of dance: having run up to her target, she did a sort of crescent kick to send it into the air and landed on her feet. Having done so, she jumped up again and delivered two spinning kicks at it (somehow not making it fly away from her) before landing once more. For an extra attack, she jumped up once more and did a horizontal right cut into it, making it fall to the ground as she landed gracefully. She then looked at me as if I was supposed to do something else.

Trying to save some face, I looked at the wolf and extended my left hand towards it, an electric charge glowing around me as the ears and tail of a Chartreux cat. Snapping my fingers, I fired a bolt of blue electricity at the target, giving a shout of " ** _Tonnerre_** _!_ " as the bolt slammed into the wolf, electrocuting it and making it disappear in a weird light.

The girl stood up straight and made her rapier disappear behind her back as I sheathed my weapon before coming over to me and looking at my appearance. I couldn't really say I blame her: I wore a rather proper white military jacket with gold buttons. Covering my legs were a pair of white slacks (you could guess that they were slacks based on me checking my leg for injuries), and on my feet were a pair of white sneakers. My hair was blond and rather spiky in the front, a natural hair choice given my mother's magic ability: she had said that she had dealt with her hair getting frizzy due to using the spell (and because of the properties of using electricity), and it was thankfully good that my hair was spiky so as to minimize the chances of it needing to be fixed. My blue eyes could only stare at the girl as she stopped studying my clothes and, leaning in really close to my face, stared at me really intently.

"So you're telling me that you, being an adventurer, went into a forest crawling with monsters of every shape and size without a healer, any healing spells, _or_ any healing items?" she asked after an uncomfortable silence.

"...Yes?" I asked, feeling really embarrassed. I think I can see what my mother felt about her moments of...embarrassment.

XXXXXXXXX

"Okay, let me get this straight," the girl said as she and I sat under one of the many trees in the forest. "You thought it was a good idea to just go out and start killing any monsters that moved with nothing but a rapier?" I nodded my head in agreement. "And you never bothered getting any healing items because you have no way of affording them or even where to find them?" Another nod. "What happened to your card?"

"I...never got one," I admitted. Card? What does she even mean by that?

"And why not? They're kinda important." The girl looked like she was trying to comprehend why I was in my current position while giving me a look that read "How the hell...?"

"Well...I'm from a far off location..."

"Which landmass are you from?" Her expression changed a bit but not enough to warrant her looking happy or satisfied.

"...Landmass?"

"Yeah. Which landmass? Leanbox? Lowee? Planeptune?"

Oh. Country of origin? "...Gallia?"

The girl blinked in surprise. "Gallia? What the heck is a 'Gallia'?"

"It's my homeland." I placed my right hand on my chest as I stood to attention.

The girl shook her head as I relaxed. "Okay, something's up with you then. You're from this 'Gallia', you have no card, and you have no idea how this world works..." She then sighed. "I'm not going to pry into it, but as someone of rather high importance I should at least get you started. After all, I only do everything, right?" Standing up, she then looked at me as I followed suit. "So since we're going to be heading over to the city anyways, mind telling me your name at the very least?"

"Oh, my name?" Right, my manners. I cleared my throat. "My name is Alexandre-Henri Renaudat, son of Pierrette-Henriette, or Perrine, and Jacques Renaudat, my mother's maiden name having been Clostermann. Those close to me just call me 'Alex'."

"Alexandre, huh? My name's Noire. It's a pleasure to meet you."

I gave a bow. "Likewise, milady."

XXXXXXXXXX

Walking through Lastation's city interior was rather...strange.

I know, I had lived in this place for a while, but I never really used an inn or anything. I preferred to just use a small cardboard box. Well, until recently, at least; someone offered to shelter me for a bit until I got enough credits (somehow) to afford an inn room.

I also never really walked with anyone else around here, and yet here I am walking with Noire.

I guess I get a point or something?

I don't know: I think I've caught one of my teammates' father's tendency to say some weird things. Though another father and his son weren't much better. And of course, one of my teammates herself, though she was at least nice enough to consider her words before saying them thanks to her mother's side.

"So what do you think of Lastation so far, Alexandre?" Noire asked me.

"The place is rather...dirty..." I told her point-blank. I could see a lot of smog in the air, and yet somehow the air's breathable. Well, for a tolerable level of "breathable".

Noire seemed to have taken offense to that, as she crossed her arms under her chest. "Well, I think it's great!"

"I'm not saying that it's terrible, just that it's...dirty."

"It's the same thing as saying that it's terrible!"

"Look, Noire..." I sighed deeply. "Where I come from, we at least breathe normal air. Around here, it sometimes feel like it's unnatural."

"Well, that's there, and this is here! Though..." She relaxed her arms a bit. "I do admit that it's a little too much in the way of factories, especially given Avenir, but...it's just how humans work, right?"

Humans? The way she said that sounded like she wasn't human. Or at the very least, fully human.

I wonder if she's part Neuroi?

"Hey, Noire?" I decided to ask her. "Have you ever heard of a group of aliens called Neuroi?"

"Neuroi?" Noire asked in return before shaking her head. "That's a random question to ask a girl you barely met earlier today. Sorry, can't say I have. I haven't heard anything about Neuroi anywhere in Gamindustri." She then raised an eyebrow. "Why? Should I be concerned?"

"No...but your red eyes remind me of something..."

"Reminds you of what?"

"...Something some called a curse." Nobody really knows how Neuroi think, but there was something most could agree on after a while: they had the ability to adapt. Strategy, abilities, almost anything we had they could copy after a while. Something they had performed before we did was integrating Neuroi cores into hosts, though most seemed to have died or gotten converted after a while. There was one man, though, who was able to live with one fused with him. Since then, Neuroi have seemed to be trying to replicate it with limited success: they could use data they had acquired from him during one point in his life but couldn't really replicate the human aspect of the fusion. The closest they got were the types known as Witch Hunters, which copied the image of some Witches and utilized magic abilities but lacked human features like skin or organs (well, minus the core, which was both a brain and a heart for them). Any humans who ended up being forced to have one usually lacked the original Neuroi Witch's innate/trained resistance (sadly, even he isn't quite sure whether it was something he was able to naturally do or if his times using Neuroi Mode allowed for it to happen) to it.

"Huh. Alright...anyways, we're here." We came to a stop in front of something called "Item Shop". "I'll pay for some basic stuff for you, but that's it. I mean, it's not like I care whether or not you actually live through your...training, but I don't want your death on my mind."

I nodded.

XXXXXXXXXX

A little while later, and I was sitting in a restaurant, Noire having left after buying some things for me (I was given a strange little device from a landmass called Planeptune known as the N-Gear, which seemed to have cost a good sum of credits from her, along with a credit card of my own, that being free, and ten batches of Healing Grass).

I really wish I could recall what her reason for leaving was, but something told me she wasn't supposed to be out around this time. Also, the girl kinda reminded me of Lili a bit...minus the whole "sisterly" thing. Though maybe she does have a sister.

Anyways, I had the healing items sitting on a table as I contemplated on how to transport them around the place. With ten of them, I doubt my pockets would carry all of them. Plus, I didn't want to have to clean out all the grass from my pockets every time I pulled them out before heading to sleep.

Hmm...I wonder if they have something that solves that issue...

Well, if they did, it probably costs a pretty penny or something. Given they actually had them.

I sighed.

I wonder how my mother was doing right now...

"Anything the matter?" a voice called out.

You know, maybe I can ask the person I was staying with: she took me in two days ago when she found me sleeping on the cardboard box and decided to take me in until I could find my own place. She seems to run both a restaurant and a factory, but the name escapes me. Not _her_ name, rather...the place's name. I usually asked her about the basic stuff (like the rules of combat in more depth), but after being caught off-guard with landmasses I think I need to get more information on the advanced ideas.

"Not really," I responded. "Though...Chian? Do you have any idea where I can find something?"

 ** _The noble lightning rapier, the son of a noble lady. Proud like his mother, he is capable of performing things other nobles are trained to do, and with his innate magic being that of his mother's he is able to fight a bit like she does. He is the second of five whose very being in Gamindustri will alter the events of what's to come._**

 **XXXXXXXXXX**

 **And there we go. The next entry is here.**

 **In case you're wondering, I've had these "trailers" with me for a while (minus one, but that's getting worked on as we speak), so I just needed to edit them a bit.**

 _ **Uh...**_

 **What is it, Lio?**

 _ **We think we have another guest.**_

 **Is it Neptune?**

 _ **...Who the hell is Neptune?**_

 **?:** Neptune? I'm not Neptune.

 **Hang on, the voice...Noire?**

 **Noire:** At least you know my name. No surprise there.

 **...Okay, why are you here?**

 **Noire:** Can't a girl be curious? It's not like I wanted to get a quick look at Alexandre while I was here anyways...

 **I find that hard to believe.**

 **Noire:** Speaking of Neptune, where did she run off to?

 **You missed her; she was here last week.**

 **Noire:** Really?! *clears throat* Well, which way did she go?

 **I think she said something about going off to look for the next chapter of one of my other stories. Something about wanting to advance the time until the main event or something.**

 **Noire:** Ah. She said something about us coming here together since I was apparently a loner. Well, according to her.

 _ **...Aren't you anyways?**_

 **Noire:**...Who's he?

 **That'd be Lionelis.**

 **Noire:** Oh. He looks all...anyways! Since I'm here I might as well introduce the next trailer's participant. After all, it's only natural that a CPU should reveal the next teammate.

 **It is? I thought it was my job to-**

 **Noire:** Shut up! Anyways, next up, it's time to go down to Lowee for the "Soft Brawler".

 **...Is this going to be a theme?**

 **Anyways, please read and respond and let me know what you thought of this chapter.**

 **Noire:** Thanks, and we hope to see you guys next time!

 **That's my closing line!**


	3. The Soft Brawler

**Ah. Another week, huh?**

 **Hello, and welcome to the third "trailer" for this...collection.**

 **Blanc:** What are you doing?

 **...holy sh-When did you get here?!**

 **Blanc:** The red die-looking thing let me in.

 **...Lio?**

 _ **To be fair, she doesn't look like the type to make much noise. You've seen how she looks throughout your sessions of the Re;Birth games, right?**_

 **Yeah...but aren't you supposed to be notifying me of any, well...intrusions?**

 _ **...Maybe? We'd have to check my contract.**_

 **Blanc:** You know I'm still here, correct?

 **...Right, forgot. Anyways, before this gets any more awkward, let me cover the replies to the reviews:**

 _Hanamori (Guest)_ **: Hopefully I don't disappoint in the last two "trailers" for this story. As for Noire, I can safely say that she's pretty much a tsundere. Probably not to the point of it being her only feature, but definitely one. Doesn't help that she acts and uses words that other tsunderes use (speaking of, need to finish watching one series with one in it and get going on another).**

 _ **...Why?**_

 **Lio, I need research, dammit! Anyways, sorry about Lionelis, and thanks for the review. Even if I can't see the review on this site at the moment.**

 _Jin (Guest)_ **: I'll address both reviews as one here to make it easy. I can't guarantee any of the things you said, but they do have the possibility of occurring. At the moment, I'd say that IF being like a parent is closer, but not by much (Hikari's not eight, but to be fair you can make a family out of friends). I can't be certain, though: I need to go edit the main story quite a bit to fix a few things. Apart from that, thanks for the review.**

 _kineke13_ **: Being the son of a Gallian noble is definitely a good thing as far as etiquette goes, especially given that she (with some help from Lynette, if I recall correctly) taught Roland a few things. As for finding interesting things to do, given Neptune, the other CPUs, and Gamindustri as a whole (among other things), that's not going to be in short supply. Am trying to decide on some rules for referencing, though...might do a poll on that, see what happens, but besides that, thanks for the review.**

 **...And there's that for now.**

 **Blanc:** Anyways, what are you doing right now?

 **...Lio, I just thought about it: how long has she been here?**

 _ **Erm...well, we think she's been here since before you arrived.**_

 **Story of my life...anyways, Blanc. I was going to get going on the next "trailer" for this collection of stories.**

 **Blanc:**...Trailer? Stories?

 **Yeah. Did you want to read along?**

 **Blanc:** Yes. I'd like to read this as well.

 **Alright. Nothing wrong with that...anyways, on with the show!**

 **XXXXXXXXXX**

 **Witch #3: The Soft Brawler (Lowee)**

 _There is one thing a true Karlsland soldier has: their discipline! We're the main force in the war concerning Witches. But just know that you can have all the discipline in the world but you'll never be able to survive without trusting your fellow soldiers._

That was the thing I kept replaying in my mind as I wandered through the snow, and so far it was not working.

My first problem is that I have no idea where any of my friends are. They all seemed to have disappeared...mysteriously. I'm still working out how.

My second involved the fact that I lacked anything covering my legs. I was grateful that I had been wearing a gray woolen sweater over my black military jacket, but the only thing I had for my lower body was a pair of black panties. And the only reason why I'm even saying anything about it is because the sweater, while it was enough to cover it a fair bit, felt rather...short.

I wonder how anyone would wear this as a regular piece of clothing...

"I'm freezing here..." I told no one in particular. I've heard of Orussia being cold and snowy, but I never really thought I'd find somewhere like it.

I should take a page out of Sanya Litvyak's book and acquire some tights. Some warm tights.

Anyways, I was also worried about the amount of snow going into my shoes, which doesn't really sound bad until you consider the fact that the socks I was wearing weren't designed to keep snow out. Or the shoes themselves: you think loafers were a bad choice around here?

Wandering around outside, I soon felt myself sink into the snow a bit, feeling the cold extend all the way up to my rear. With a slight sigh, I placed my hands on the snow before I ended up making them freeze a bit.

"Dammit..." I mumbled to myself as I worked on getting my legs out of the snow. I managed to crawl out but was feeling really cold now. "I can't really go out now...can I..." I got up and, summoning my Karlsland attitude, kept going...before I succumbed to the cold and fell onto my knees, my arms wrapped around my chest as I tried keeping myself warm. "Really wish I could make some heat right now..." I then plopped onto the snow chest first as I slowly closed my eyes.

I wonder if anyone would find me before I died...

XXXXXXXXXX

 _"Roland? Is Mommy alright right now?"_

 _"Gertrud? Well, she's fine. Just a little worried about you, that's all..."_

 _"Oh. Why is Mommy worried about me?"_

 _"Not sure I can answer that, but she's doing what she can to raise you."_

 _"Oh. Well...I don't like seeing Mommy act like this..."_

 _"I'll talk to her. Raising a daughter by herself is rather hard, I guess. Kinda feel sorry for not being there more..."_

XXXXXXXXXX

I opened my eyes slowly and found myself looking at a ceiling. A white ceiling.

Am I in heaven right now? I think I am.

Though...isn't there supposed to be, you know...more sky and less building?

Sitting up, I was met with a peculiar sight: there was someone coming in with a tray holding a few tea cups and a pot of tea. Taking a look very carefully, she seemed to be wearing a red-themed maid's outfit, complete with matching headgear. Her pale blond hair seemed to reach down to her waist, and her light brown eyes looked over at me.

"Oh, you're awake," she said quickly. "Thank Lady White Heart for that."

"Yeah..." I started, unsure of what to say. "Thanks." I then decided to try pointing out the tea cups. "Are those tea cups?"

"Hmm?" The maid looked down at the items in her possession. "Yes, they are. I was going to have tea with Lady White Heart, but she's been a little shut in her room. I don't really blame her, though."

"Oh."

"Did you want some? I imagine being out in the cold would want you to have something warm. You know, to chase the cold away or something."

"I guess. Also...could you tell me what's going on around here? And where I am?"

XXXXXXXXXX

"So let me get this straight: I'm somewhere called...Lowee, which is rather known for snow, what with it being called 'The Land of White Serenity' and all, where there are apparently _two_ Lady Blancs instead of the usual one. One is being all...bad, and the other is currently hiding out here. That about the sum of it?"

"Yeah," the maid informed me. "It was kinda sudden. Conversation had the ability to change her shape and use the same powers as Lady Blanc, so we ended up having to run. As such, we're here trying to make a sort of resistance."

I took a quick sip of the tea I had been given by the maid. "Ah. And it's just you two?"

"Not really. We also have two men, brothers to each other, called Older Brother and Younger Brother. And another girl named CyberConnect2. She's usually the one we send to scout, seeing as she's rather good at it. Other than that, that's about it. Well, plus some citizens. Shares are rather low right now, too."

"Shares?"

"Right, you sound like you need to be explained this sort of thing. Shares are what we refer to as the amount of faith put into a particular goddess. The more Shares collected, the stronger she is. The inverse can also be said about it: the less Shares there are, the weaker she becomes. Though they're still stronger than a normal human."

"I see...alright, maybe I can help out around here."

The maid looked at me carefully. "You sure? You did just come out of the cold."

"Sure of it. After all, I was raised with discipline in mind."

"Ah. Soldier-type?"

"Kinda. Don't get me wrong, though; I'm all for kicking ass, but..." I paused. Should I tell her more about me?

"It's alright. I wasn't saying that you couldn't help. In fact, it'd be a lot more helpful. The Brothers, helpful as they are, aren't too...reliable sometimes. How would you fight, though?"

"Hmm?" I raised my left hand. "Well, I was trained in a bit of brawling. Hand-to-hand combat was something my mother taught me. I can fire a gun if need be, too."

"Well, sadly we don't really have any guns around here. Though if you knew a spell or two that'd be helpful."

Spell? "Like what, exactly?"

"Like...fire, electricity, ice, wind...that sort of thing."

Oh. Well... "I've got superhuman strength. Does that count?"

"Not sure. Not a proper spell, but if you can do that...maybe Lady Blanc doesn't have to worry about being the powerhouse as much."

"Speaking of which...where is she? I'd like to at least thank her for bringing me in from outside."

XXXXXXXXXX

Well, here we are. Right in front of "Lady Blanc's" door.

The maid (she later introduced herself as Financier) gave me some directions to her room along with a warning about not making her angry.

I think I can handle her being angry, but I also would not like to be thrown outside for doing so: pissing off a god is already bad news given their powers, but if this particular goddess was a powerhouse then...I wonder if I'll be able to take her attacks...

Raising my left hand, I knocked on the door.

"Lady Blanc?" I asked carefully. "Are you in there?"

"Financier?" a voice asked. It was rather...low... "Have you checked on our guest?"

"Erm...sorry, this isn't Financier. I'm Elisabeth, the girl from outside."

There was a slight pause. "Come in."

Okay, let's see what this goddess looks like. I wonder if she's like how most are depicted...

I opened the door and stepped inside to find...a rather spacious room?

Well, this is new. I mean, I know she's a goddess and all, but...this is actually realistic, I guess. No super-mega-valuable...you know, I really don't like the fact that Alexandre said that sort of word once. Anyways, there was nothing that a normal person couldn't afford, though it must have cost a bit extra to get a Victorian bed. I think that's what it was. I have no idea, but it was a bed with a raised cover and some thin curtains, like it was for nobility. Which makes sense, I guess. There was also a short yet rather long bookshelf in the room, along with a table with built-in drawers and a chair to sit in.

I wandered over to the table and saw that there was a strange box sitting on top of it along with a few sheets of lined paper, a pencil, a few pens, a stranger device (upon further inspection, I saw that it reminded me of a typewriter) and an equally-strange object with two buttons and a sort of gear in the middle of said buttons.

Hmm...what's all this for? Is she a writer or something?

I then looked back at the bed, trying to figure out where the goddess was, and noticed that there was a silhouette behind the curtains, laying on its stomach and reading a book or something.

"Hello?" I asked as I wandered over to the bed and, taking a grip of the curtain, pulled it to the side.

Laying there, reading a book whose title I couldn't make out, was a girl wearing a white dress with dark brown linings and marks on it. There seemed to be something around her neck, but I couldn't get a clear look at it right now. Her hair was a shade of brown that made me think of a beach or something, and it reached down to her neck.

"Lady Blanc?" I asked. This...isn't the goddess Financier was talking about, is she?

"Hmm?" the girl asked as she looked up at me. She had dull blue eyes. "Oh, it's you." She then looked back down at her book.

"Hello." This really is Lady Blanc...can I ask why there's a world where a little girl's a goddess? Though...she does look like she could be a little sister to someone...not that it's a good thing or anything!

"Could you wait a little while longer? I want to finish up this chapter."

Avid reader, huh? "Uh, sure...maybe I should introduce myself." I cleared my throat and gave off a quick bow. "My name is Elisabeth Barkhorn. You can call me 'Lili' if you wish, milady." Thank you, Roland, for teaching me a bit of etiquette...

"Okay."

...She's not much of a talker, is she? "Um...well...is the story good?"

"Yes."

"...Any way to tell me what it's about?"

"Long story."

"..." I then glanced back at the table, with its writing utensils and papers. And the strange box. "I take it you're an author?"

"Working on it. I wanted to master it."

"Ah. I know someone who enjoys writing. Well, two of them. One of them is a little...old, but his daughter seems to have taken after him in that regard." Great, Elisabeth: the man who's been there for your mom since you were little, and your best way of describing him to a goddess is the term "old"? Though, to be fair...being in one's early forties is rather old compared to being the age of seventeen.

"Are they masters?"

"Not really. I mean, they write as a hobby, and they are rather good at it...but I wouldn't say they're masters personally." Though can someone be a master at writing?

"I see. I will have to speak with them at a later time." She then turned the page and read for a few more seconds before closing the book and looking at me really quick. "All done." I backed up carefully and watched as Lady Blanc slid off the bed, getting on her feet. She took some time to examine me. "...I see."

"Um, excuse me for wanting to ask this, and feel free to correct me, but...aren't you a little...young to be a goddess?"

Lady Blanc seemed to have a neutral expression as she seemed to have noticed something. "Aren't you a little embarrassed to be wearing only a sweater?"

"Huh?" I stood at attention. "I have a military jacket underneath this, milady."

"And yet no skirt?"

"...Don't girls do this sort of thing?" I mean, around my time Witches were respected members of our society (I've heard once that it feels like a combination of fear, awe, and respect) due to their ability to protect us from the Neuroi. Girls took to wearing nothing for their lower body...well, no skirts or pants, mind you. We still have our undergarments, so...and it's not like we refused to cover up at all! It's just...I'd have to explain the whole principle behind it and...

"Last I checked, no. And even if they did, they wouldn't be wandering around like that outside. Especially around here."

"I see..." That would make sense: I mean, Miss Litvyak and Miss Juutilainen don't really cover up...scratch that: the latter didn't really cover up beyond gray tights. Miss Litvyak's military uniform had a skirt attached to it...I think. Do I look like I designed the uniform?

"I should see about having Financier finding you a skirt or something to make it more comfortable."

"N-no need! I mean, after all, I really don't think you need to go to all the trouble of finding me some clothes especially given your measurements and mine are totally different!" I think I felt a slight chill in the air. "Not that it's bad or anything, but if you wanted to buy me an entire get-up, skirt and everything, you'd have to know my bust size and everything, right?" The chill somehow got a little stronger.

I just noticed it, but is Lady Blanc...getting angry?

What did Financier say about not getting her angry? Was it...

"My breast size is none of your concern, miss," Lady Blanc said rather coldly as a hammer materialized in her right hand. She then gripped it with her left hand as well and slung it over her right shoulder so that the head touched the ground, adjusting her grip to get comfortable. "It's bad enough I have Thunder Tits to give me that sort of shit, I don't need some fucking girl who was found in the snow to add to that list!"

"Um, milady?" I tried asking. Never mind the extreme jump in personality, I'm more worried about the hammer in her hands! "If you really want to hit me, don't you think it's better to take this outside-"

The goddess didn't let me finish as she had ran behind me without my knowledge and swung her hammer into my back, sending me towards the window. I braced myself for impact...before realizing that the window had been open for some reason. She must be used to it to a degree, huh? The cold, I mean!

The sad part was that I was now falling down ten feet towards the snowy ground.

Thinking quickly, I let my familiar's ears and tail (those of a Rottweiler's, with the tail not being cropped) show and raised a shield behind me to absorb the impact before I picked myself up, checking my body for any injuries from the hammer. My back felt a little sore, but it wasn't really anything I couldn't handle.

Speaking of which, Lady Blanc landed on the snowy ground after hopping out of her window.

"Okay, now that we're outside..." the goddess stated as she readied herself for battle. "Time to die, bitch!"

"Just great, Lili..." I muttered to myself as I got into a combat stance like my mother showed me. "You just _had_ to go and get a goddess angry...though she does seem like she could be a cute little sister..." I shook my head. "Now's not the time!"

"Flattery isn't going to save you, asshole!"

I then watched as a few things entered my sights: firstly was a small picture of myself with two bars, each having numbers associated with them. The bar on top seemed to be partially emptied and seemed to be something marked as "HP". The other one was a blue bar that was completely filled, which was marked as "SP". There was also a little picture of Lady Blanc in the upper left corner, with a yellow bar next to it.

I was trying to figure out why she looked so much calmer in that picture than how she is right at the moment.

I watched as Lady Blanc charged at me and slammed her hammer into me hard a couple of times, taking off a lot of points off the "HP" bar. I fell to one knee and took heavy breaths as I looked at her carefully. I soon rolled out of a slam from her hammer aimed at the ground and readied myself again.

Okay, I better show her what I've got. Still don't know why she attacked me suddenly...

"I don't need to flatter you," I told the goddess as I ran in and threw a quick left hook at her. "I just have to make sure I don't lose." I then threw two quick punches at her before I slowed down a bit and put more power into my fists to cause a bit more damage. After that, I faked a punch with my left hand before delivering a swift right hook. I then watched as Lady Blanc gave it some (rather scary) thought before going with spinning herself around a bit before she gave off a...glowing red eye? I couldn't tell: the face was somehow darkened to the point that the only thing not covered by it (excluding said eye) was her mouth, which seemed to be something an angry person might make.

This is going to hurt.

I readied a barrier in front of me and blocked the attack as best as I could. However, my defenses didn't hold up for long as the hammer slammed into it, straining to take the blow before breaking. The resulting impact forced me onto my chest right where I stood, eating snow. Groaning, I looked around those little things I had gotten in my vision and saw that my health was dangerously low.

Then again, she _is_ a goddess. She's got more power in that hammer of hers than I do using my magic.

"Had enough?" Lady Blanc taunted me as I managed to weakly pick myself up. "You don't want to die right here and now, do you?"

"You're right..." I said slowly as I tried thinking of something I could do. Whatever she did, it sure hit hard, but...my whole body's really sore. Is it because I have no idea what she's capable of compared to me? "I don't want to..." I then took a deep breath. "But if it means losing to you..." I tightened my fists and raced up to the goddess. "...then I'll hit you with everything I've got before then! **One-Two Punch!** " I then brought my left arm back and swung my left fist into her as hard as I could, a white glow covering said fist. I then quickly followed it up with a glow-laced right straight that seemed to send her sliding back a bit, and I stood there, panting. I saw that the attack took a chunk out of the goddess's health, but not a whole lot. About

Lady Blanc looked at me before giving off a sigh and saying, "You know what, fuck this." She made her hammer disappear before dusting herself off. "It'd be pointless to fight you since you just came out of the cold. Besides, you're out of my league given you're just a human." She took a deep breath and calmly added, "I'll have Financier see about finding you some clothes. You're going to need something for your legs, after all."

I watched as all the information in my vision disappeared, and I fell onto my knees panting.

That was close...any longer and I think I would have fainted if not died...

"Oh, and...Elisabeth, right?" Lady Blanc asked me. "You definitely have guts to hit me that hard. Whoever trained you did their job well."

"Thanks..." I said. Maybe I should tell her my mom trained me? Maybe not: I did just have the...how did Roland describe it? "Stuffing beaten out of you"? I think so.

"Still, don't underestimate me. I may be hiding after what Conversation did, but that doesn't mean that I'm a pushover." She had a more determined tone to her usual voice. "As long as you watch what you say and help out around here, you're welcome to stay as long as you need."

"Thanks, milady." I stood up.

I wonder how Mom's doing...and the others as well...

 ** _The soft brawler, daughter of a Karlsland ace. She is disciplined, like her mother, but under that harsh exterior lies a softer interior who cares deeply about her friends. And like her mother, she seems to be greatly affected by girls who can be considered "little sisters". Her standing as the third of five destined to change Gamindustri's legend is cemented._**

 **XXXXXXXXXX**

 **And there's the third entry. To recap so far before going into the last one, we've introduced Hikari, Alexandre, and Elisabeth. Two more, and one of them is not going to be shown until we start the main event.**

 **Blanc:** Main event?

 _ **Yeah, Project HD RPG itself.**_

 **Blanc:**..."HD RPG"?

 **Hey, it's my project name!**

 **Blanc:** I'm only asking. I'm just wondering why you didn't call it something like "Project Neptunia" or "Project HARLE" or something.

 **Okay, the first one was probably used way back when (need to check just out of curiosity), so that wouldn't have flown! And pardon me, but how did you even construct that second one? I don't recall you watching any...**

 ***insert apparent lack of Blanc here***

 **...Where did she go?**

 _ **We think she went that way.**_

 **Oh, that's helpful, Lio! These are words on a screen, so what's directions?!**

 _ **Over by where you have the planners for the project.**_

 **Where? Oh, God no...**

 _ **Shouldn't it be "Goddesses" or something else?**_

 **Lio, you have no idea what might happen if she takes one look at those planners, do you?**

 **Blanc:**...Okay...that does sound interesting, but... **what the** **hell is this?**

 _ **Oh dear, we think she's getting angry or something. She's using bold.**_

 **...Wait, are you implying that I sound angry all the time or something?**

 ***insert sound of a transforming Blanc here***

 **White Heart: You've got a lot of explaining to do right now, bastard!**

 **...**

 _ ***sigh* Well, since she's going to be busy showing him a thing or two about...whatever she's angry about, read and respond, tell us about what you thought of the chapter, how he portrayed the characters, the usual stuff. we'd better book it before she gets us next.**_

 **Wait, Lio! Don't leave me here alone!**

 _ **Just have to survive long enough for her anger to subside.**_

 **When's that?!**

 _ **No idea there. Anyways, we'll see you for the last entry in this collection. *runs away***_

 **Hey, get back here!**


	4. The Magnetic Archer

...You know it's coming. It's the final "trailer" for this collection, featuring the last of the four to be shown (but not the last of the mentioned five).

 _ **You don't sound so enthusiastic about this...**_

*points to an icepack on his head* Lio, I got pummeled by an angry goddess. Who represents a Nintendo game console. When you get pummeled by a axe that looks like it's got plasma on its blade a lot, you let me know.

 ** _To be fair, we can't take much in the way of hits._**

*sigh* At least I didn't get sliced in half, I guess. Having the ability to survive lethal damage when needed is pretty good for an author who has things happen to him. Though I do have the biggest headache right now...

 _ **...**_

...What?

 _ **We think Blanc knocked you around too much. Your words aren't bold right now.**_

Huh? *looks at last sentence said* ...Son of a b-

 _ **Anyways, you'd better rest up until you find a way of getting it back.**_

I still have to reply to the reviews. I just have to figure out how...maybe...okay, let's try this for a temporary solution:

 _kineke13_ : Yeah. Definitely...and apparently notes concerning them also constitutes ass-kicking. Anyways, thanks for the review.

...That's it for the reviews for now. I'll just direct you to the trailer below so I can look for a way to fix this. Better not go into my other stories too...that'd be embarrassing if not bad...

 **XXXXXXXXXX**

 **The Magnetic Archer (Leanbox)**

 _If we don't chase after our dreams, we'll lose them forever._

My mother had said that once, when she was talking to some of her teammates about her achievements. I have no idea what exactly she meant by that, but I can definitely say that she made a good point.

Course, words like that didn't really solve the current problem I had: a bunch of blue blocky creatures bouncing after me.

I have no idea, but this whole forest made little sense. I've seen some weird-looking mouse that easily towered over me, flowers with faces, bouncing blue slime-shaped dog-faced creatures..."Blockies"...

The only thing I took some comfort in was that the blue slime-shaped dog-faced things didn't attack me. Though they felt...rather tough. Like it was stretchy like taffy yet as tough as a tank.

"Why couldn't I have gotten Mom's speed magic?" I asked myself as I drew a rather old discarded wooden bow I found shortly after waking up and, using my magic to conjure up a thin metallic arrow from a bit of the surrounding structures, turned around to fire on the "Blockies". It worked to a degree; one was hit, and the arrow shattered to scatter its pieces across the group. However, the scattered pieces only seemed to just bounced off the others while the target looked irritated. "Hell, even my father's fire magic?" I turned back around and ran. "Or even a sword!"

A "Blocky" somehow caught up with me and swung at me in a straight line. I rolled to the side and decided to swing the bow at it...only to watch as it broke against the "Blocky". It looked at me, curious.

For some reason, I could imagine it asking, "Golly, where did your weapon go?"

...I have no idea why it'd say that, but...

"That plan didn't work the way I hoped..." I only said as I decided to hoof it once more.

XXXXXXXXXX

I lost track of how long it had been since I left the forest, but I wasn't going to risk stopping and seeing if the Blocky Apprehension Regiment was still behind me. I was going into a city, so I'm pretty sure I was safe, but I did want to get out in the event they followed me to the city and started causing some other problems there.

Finally steeling myself to take a look, I turned my head to glance behind me.

No Blockies behind me...good. There were some people looking at me as I ran, but I couldn't tell if they were curious about why there was a boy running right now or wondering if he was looking where he was going.

And that's when I found myself ramming into something. Hard.

Falling onto my rear, I shook my head and looked up. Towering over me was a strange building. I wasn't sure if it was supposed to look like a church, but it did have the vibes of being one.

"Hi, building," I said to it. "Sorry for crashing into you." I got onto my feet and noticed that I must have been lucky to even find this place. "I might as well see what's inside..." I stepped up to the door I ran into and, noting its wooden surface, opened it carefully. It looked...

Well, it didn't look like a traditional church, I'll tell you that much. I don't see a single pew around here, everything was themed around green...

At least the place looked inviting. Big and somewhat menacing, but inviting nonetheless.

Another thing I noted was that I didn't see anyone around.

Is it a holiday right now? Speaking of...what's today? Might be a Sunday, but I can't tell...

"Hello?" I asked aloud. No response. "Anyone home?" Again, no response. "Is the manager here right now?"

Blinking, I stepped inside and walked around a bit. I could see a few desks, a counter for doing stuff on, a couple of weird screens playing a sort of slideshow.

"What did I stumble into?" I asked myself as I walked around. A few seconds later, I found a hallway, and curiosity got the better of me. "Where am I exactly?" Was this supposed to be a sort of inn? I somehow needed to know, if only because I had never seen a place with an interior like this before.

XXXXXXXXXX

"Whatever this place is, it sure is hard to find my way around," I admitted as I was wandering down one of the hallways.

This place was huge! I'd never think that a building like this would be so twisty and stuff!

Maybe it's one of those places...like an indoor flea market? Dunno, but there are a lot of closed doors. I think I opened one up a while back and was greeted to a bunch of black blocks, complete with blinking lights mainly of the green hue, though they also had amber, red...I lost track of the colors after a while. What was amazing was that I had no idea what they were used for. I think they were part of a satellite station, but I didn't see one on the roof.

To be fair, I ran into this building, so I don't think I have any right to say something like that given I crashed into something huge and in plain sight.

I soon crossed a door and, out of the corner of my eye, caught some light from a crack. I turned to look at it and saw that it led to a sort of bedroom.

I stared at the source of light, being another one of those screens. Instead of a slideshow, though, it appeared to be a bunch of colored lines against a black background. It looked like they were coming close to the front before changing directions and even going towards the background.

I knocked on the door gently and asked, "Hello? Is there anyone in here?"

"Ran-Ran..." a female voice asked sleepily. "Could you come back later? I want to sleep some more..."

...Who's "Ran-Ran"? Also, seriously: is this a hotel or inn or something? I didn't see a sign anywhere indicating it, and I have no clue about it.

"I wanted to come in for a bit?" I asked this time. "There's something I wanted to look at in here."

"Sure..." the female voice replied.

I shrugged my shoulders. I doubt this "Ran-Ran" looks like me in any way, but the girl in here is sleepy. Maybe she has no idea about me being in here. Plus, I just wanted to take a look at the screen really quick; I haven't seen anything like it before, so it's not like I'm going in to steal something.

Stepping inside, I found a bed sitting at one side of the room, with the strange devices across from it. There were a lot of wires around that area, but it looked organized. Almost like each wire was serving a different purpose.

I walked over to it and looked at the desk it was on. There was a sort of device on the surface in front of the screen that had the letters of the English alphabet on it...along with a few symbols I couldn't make out, like a sort of wavy formation of four squares. Next to that was a small object that seemed to have two buttons on it along with a wheel of sorts. Both devices had wires leading to the back. There was also a white box beside the screen, with a symbol I hadn't seen before. It had some rings around said button, though.

I gingerly tapped the white box a bit with my left hand. It felt like it was tough, but I wasn't sure. Everything looked to be plastic as well, so I don't think magnetism would work on them. Though maybe they have some metals? I don't know; I'd have to break them down and take a look before I knew.

I backed up a bit and soon found a pointy object gently poking the back of my neck. I turned my head slowly and found myself looking at the head of a spear for unknown reasons. The wielder was...

Well, the wielder was a blond-haired girl who appeared to be in her late teens, maybe early twenties. She definitely gave off a feeling of looking like my mom...if she had orange hair and wore a military uniform.

Anyways, she appeared to bear my mother's physique when she was younger, a slender build with...well, you might see the comparison. She also had dark blue eyes that were glaring at me, and I could see that she had rather wavy hair that was free and went down to her waist. She had her bangs just above her eyes, and there seemed to be three sets of hair going down to either around her upper jaw, around the upper part of her neck, or down to her chest. She wore a green and peach-themed dress, with the top of it being dark green with gold lining on it and sleeveless. The main thing I noticed was the fact that she had a considerable amount of her cleavage showing, though it was covered by some sort of veil. Around her neck was a ribbon red in color, and I could see some green decorated bands that might serve as the missing sleeves or something. I can definitely say that her hands were covered by white gloves that went up to either around the middle of her forearms (shortest point) or about her elbows (farthest point).

Around her waist, at the top of her skirt, was a big peach-orange (not sure which color it actually was right now) bow. Around where the ribbon was appeared to be a white band, most likely acting as a makeshift collar for the veil and ribbon to be attached to. Just above the ribbon (it must have been attached to this or something) was a gold-colored metallic piece with a sapphire or some kind of blue gem in the center.

"I hope there's something that you found interesting, is there not?" the girl asked me, the spear still pointing at me.

"Uh...yes, ma'am?" I replied in return, raising my hands up slowly. "I just got curious, that's all. I mean, I was running through the forest, came into town still running, crashed into this building we're in-"

The girl looked at me, slightly curious but still glaring. "Oh? And how does a young man like you simply bump into a Basilicom without looking?"

So... "I'm in a Basilicom?" Hang on... "...What's...a Basilicom?"

The girl looked surprised. "Oh my. How do you not know about the Basilicom? You're a citizen of Leanbox, no?"

"...Leanbox?"

"Yes. The 'Land of Green Pastures', Leanbox. How do you not know about your own landmass?"

"Uh...listen, I can explain that...if you at least put down the spear, ma'am."

The girl frowned. I don't think she's liking my proposal... "You entered my room without anyone catching you, while I was sleeping in order to have enough energy to go on another dungeon raid online. Unless you have a compelling reason for me to reconsider, I'm not sure if you'll get out of this without repercussions."

"...I'll take that as a tentative yes?"

The girl was still looking like she was angry but was at least willing to hear me out, giving a slight nod. "Very well. Please convince me."

"I come from a land called Liberion. My mom and dad were Witches in the military. For some reason, I was teleported into this world, I found some old wooden bow and started working on surviving a bit until I found the city. I then..."

The girl raised the spear a bit to stop me from talking more. "Liberion? I am definitely not familiar with that name. Last I checked, there are four landmasses in Gamindustri, and none of them were named 'Liberion'."

"Would some evidence about being a Witch suffice?" I focused and brought forth my familiar, the ears and tail of a rabbit appearing on my body.

The girl looked at me, surprised. "How did you do that?"

"Well, I just focus or use my magic and..."

"Not that. Getting the ears and tail."

I pointed at my familiar's ears. "Oh, these? Well, I kinda just...got them. A bonding ceremony and all that. Making a sort of connection, you know?"

The girl looked between the ears and my face before a smile crossed her face. "My, you certainly are intriguing."

"...How so, ma'am?" Since I'm looking down her spear (which is up my chin right now), I think I can spare a few moments to listen to her.

"Most girls, or anyone in particular, would need to buy a sort of accessory tailored to look like cat ears, bunny ears, or whatever you wanted. To actually have them without the accessory..." She then looked at me carefully. "You said you had a bow with you. What happened to it?"

"I...smacked it against a Blocky."

"Blocky? I was not aware we had Terits around here."

Those things were Terits? "You don't?"

"I believed that they were mostly a Lastation monster. Of course, I have no idea about the landmass's current monsters, but Terits might have migrated here. I will have to ask Yvoire to investigate that further."

"...Lastation?"

She looked at me strangely. "You don't even know about Lastation?"

"Ma'am? If you want to throw names out randomly, could I do so as well?"

The girl lowered her eyebrows. "I'm certainly not throwing them out randomly. What about Lowee? Planeptune?"

I sighed. I wonder if she's heard of other locations apart from "Leanbox" and "Lastation". "Neuroi, Romagna, Britannia, Fuso-" The spear went a little into my neck without drawing blood yet.

"I'm not joking...erm..." She blinked and asked, "What is your name?" Apparently, executing someone must require getting a name so they could call it out before killing you...

"Leo Merlin Dracon?"

"...Leo? My, that is an interesting name. Who gave it to you?"

"My dad did. My parents were members of the Five Hundred and First Joint Fighter Wing, the Strike Witches." The girl gave it some thought before she dismissed the spear somehow, allowing me to stand normally. "Uh...thanks?"

"I think you have a lot to learn, Mister Leo. And as I doubt you want to find out what Yvoire might do to you if he finds you in here, I'll ask you something: do you wish to stay here?"

...Huh? "...Why?"

"There is a lot you can learn going through Leanbox's records, and I want to learn more about these...Witches. Especially their familiars. You do need a place to stay, do you not?"

"Yeah, but..."

"Perfect. An equal exchange. Now, let's see...normally I'd have Ran-Ran go on a dungeon raid with me using a separate account, but seeing as she's a little busy right now if I had to take a guess you'll have to do in her place."

"...You want me to go into a dungeon without a weapon?" Is she trying to kill me indirectly?

"No, not like that." She pointed to the screen, the thing that got me curious earlier. "Online."

"What's online?"

The girl looked shocked. "You have no idea about being online? You know, the Internep?"

Internep? Who even...? "...What year is this?"

"What year do you think it is, Mister Dracon?"

"...Not Nineteen Sixty-Four?"

"That long? My, you're out of your time. And yet you look so young, too."

"Thanks?" Was that supposed to be a compliment? I mean, given she had one minute ago been holding a spear to my neck I wasn't sure if she had a compelling reason to compliment me voluntarily.

The girl then went over to the screen (I also took note that she had some of her hair braided in the back, held together by a ribbon there as well) and grabbed the device with a gear on it, shaking it a bit to show a new screen with the words "Four Goddesses Online". "Anyways, I'll explain a bit before we start, and you can learn the rest along the way." She then remembered something. "Oh, and in case you are wondering, you may call me Vert."

Vert? Sounds Gallian...I think? "Okay, thanks...Vert?"

As I watched Vert do...whatever she was doing to set up for what I'd call "mission day" with devices I have no idea about alongside technology I have no clue about, a few questions crossed my mind.

What kind of world am I in?

How much am I really going to be needing to learn in order to adjust quickly, and what are the most important to note?

Are the others doing alright without me?

Are my parents worried about where I went and how I got here?

And...

What's an Internep? I'm serious! It sounds like it's the-

 **XXXXXXXXXX**

...And that's the end of this trailer as well as the collection of them. As far as this chapter's concerned, it doesn't look too impressive but I do assure you that Leo will actually have a stable weapon (not some old wooden bow that apparently broke after smacking something hard). Also, I do once again want to apologize for the words I'm using right now where the bolding is concerned; again, I think I got hit by Blanc hard enough to block that ability.

...Speaking of...isn't there one more...

 **Vert:** I am here.

...Thanks for letting me know...wait, where were you this whole time?

 **Vert** **:** I was sitting here just waiting. After all, it is rude to interrupt a author when they're telling a story, is it not?

...

 _ **At least she didn't cut in like Neptune did, just popped in like Noire, or was sitting there reading a book like Blanc.**_

I know that! Still...hang on, Lio? How did she get in?

 **Vert:** Well, you two were preoccupied with dealing with your loss of using bold at the moment, so I took a bit of time to look at your notes. Speaking of, I can see why Blanc would knock you around at that point. I don't condone it, though.

That's nice to know...also, what?

 **Vert:** Speaking of, I managed to find the others shortly before I got here. They said that they would be here to close out the collection.

 **Neptune:** Hey there!

 **Noire:** Is it time yet?

 **Blanc:** ...

...EGAD! PLEASE DON"T HIT ME, PLEASE DON'T HIT ME, PLEASE DON'T HIT-

 **Neptune:** Whoa, you definitely changed since I last saw you.

 _ **Blanc disabled his bolding capabilities for a while.**_

 **Blanc:** He had it coming.

 **Noire:** ...What did he do?

Nothing! Anyways, let's see...ah, right. Currently, I am almost done with the story collection I wanted to finish before I started going on Project HD RPG, but once I do I should have the first two chapters up within two weeks after I complete it. Anyways, seeing as I still have to retrieve the gang from their firefighting duties, why don't you girls and Lio do the honors of closing us out?

 **Neptune:** Dang tooting!

 **Noire:** Anyways, as CPUs it's our job to help people out when needed, right?

 **Blanc:** ...

 **Vert:** From each of us, we do hope that you have enjoyed the trailers, even if they weren't the "best".

What's that supposed to-

 **Noire:** We personally wanted to say thanks for reading.

 **Neptune:** Yepperoni!

 _ **So please read and respond and let us and the author know what you thought about the trailers, what you liked, any questions you have, things like that.**_

 **Vert:** We will certainly see you in the main event named...what was it again, _Witches of Gamindustri: Rise of Neuroi_?

 **Blanc:**...

 **Neptune:** Yeah, and you better get it out quick, Mister Author! I don't really want to be- Hang on... *looks at Blanc out of curiosity* Hey, Blanc? You're just kinda standing there. What's the matter?

 **Blanc:** ...Where's Rosalina in all this?

 **Neptune:** ...Who's Rosalina?

Eh? Rosalina? Erm...well, she's-

 ** _[We're sorry to report, but the newly-minted (and definitely-not-created-literally-a-few-seconds-ago) Anti-Spoiler Squadron, or ASS (note to self, change name), have cut off the remainder of the entry to prevent any more spoilers. We have it under control and will see you in the "official" main event, so thanks for reading and we'll see you in the first few chapters of that story. Or any of the other stories once the author gets around to updating them (*cough* Project Global *cough*).]_**


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